Palestinians in fear as Israeli forces and settlers attack West Bank mosques
Mohammad Mansour - Al Jazeera English
Palestinian witnesses describe coordinated attacks by Israeli forces and settlers targeting mosques in the occupied West Bank amid a sharp escalation of violence. The assaults, including tear gas and arson, have sparked fear among worshippers and drawn international condemnation.
Naim Ahmed Faraj, 66, was among dozens of worshippers praying the evening Isha prayer when Israeli forces threw tear gas inside the mosque in the village of Madama near Nablus. Faraj, who suffers from joint and heart conditions, collapsed from suffocation.
His son, Mohammed Naim, said his father slipped in and out of consciousness and his condition worsened after inhaling the gas. The 66-year-old gradually regained awareness after being taken home by car, as no ambulance was present.
“The mosque is supposed to be a safe place for people to pray without being attacked. But recently, and for a long time, the mosque has become a source of anxiety,” Naim told Al Jazeera, adding that worshippers now fear going to the mosque to pray amid the escalating violence in the West Bank.
The attack in Madama is part of a sharp rise in assaults by Israeli settlers and forces across the occupied territories. Palestinian sources say such incidents are encouraged by extremist ministers like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Naim described daily raids deliberately timed to coincide with prayer hours to cause maximum panic. He noted that soldiers and settlers frequently coordinate to “terrorize” local residents.
“Our village has become an island besieged from all sides by settlements, bypass roads, and the army. We have no exit or area we can go to,” Naim said, pointing to the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that cuts across Palestinian towns and villages.
More than 750,000 settlers live in illegal settlements across the occupied Palestinian territories, and the number continues to grow while Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, openly oppose the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state.
Attacks and anti-Palestinian rhetoric have particularly surged in recent weeks as Israeli politicians campaign ahead of next month’s general election. Last week, far-right Israeli lawmaker Zvi Sukkot stormed Madama village and smashed a Palestinian memorial with a sledgehammer.
A few hours after the Madama attack, Israeli settlers carried out a separate violent raid on the Imad al-Din Zanki mosque in the nearby town of Bazariya. The assailants poured flammable liquid on the ground floor of the building and set it ablaze.
Taysir Safarini, former head of Bazariya’s village council, recounted the emergency response: “Neighbors woke up to the fire, alerted civil defense forces in Anabta, and tried to put out the flames themselves to prevent them from spreading.”
The attackers also spray-painted Hebrew slogans on the walls, including death threats against Arabs and a taunting message to the U.S. ambassador to Israel: “Huckabee, greetings from the terrorists.” Mike Huckabee, a close Israel ally who has supported Israeli settlements in the West Bank, recently called settlers “terrorists.”
Following the attacks, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s office warned that such violations risk igniting a catastrophic religious war.
The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs condemned the ongoing assaults, describing the targeting of mosques as a flagrant violation of international law. The ministry recorded at least 13 mosques vandalized or burned by settlers and Israeli forces since the start of the year.
The targeting extends beyond rural villages; in a detailed report in August, the ministry documented 26 incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and 155 cases of banning the call to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.
According to the United Nations, at least 76 Palestinians, including 18 children, have been killed in the territory this year, and about 3,800 people have been displaced. The U.N. recorded more than 1,450 settler attacks that injured around 1,040 people, while the committee against settlements and the wall estimates the total number of attacks exceeds 6,000.
For Palestinians, the relentless violence has shattered any sense of safety, forcing families to make choices about basic activities. Naim shared: “For example, I don’t let my son go to the mosque or anywhere else because I fear for him. I keep him at home and tell him not to go out during this time because incursions happen daily.”
